The Status of Interdisciplinary Metaphor in Specialized Lexis

The assertion we start from in our study is that in specialized languages metaphor is a figure of reason rather than a figure of speech. The general objective of the study is researching the interdisciplinary status of specialized metaphor – terminological and conceptual – by making reference to the hard core of terminology. Derived objectives: comparative research of the degree of scientificity of interdisciplinary metaphor, at the hard core of lexis, following metaphorical transfer; descriptive-linguistic and cognitive research of the general and particular conceptual features that are preserved within this type of internal terminology. The approach is descriptive-contrastive.

One of the conclusions of the research is that the central sphere of specialized lexis, by expansion, supplies terms that may be specialized or may go through a new metaphorical transfer without altering the degree of scientificity in the target fields.